Rukana immediately turned and walked away from the park at a brisk pace. She glanced over her shoulder as she walked, checking to see if the masked man was following her. He wasn’t. She was all right. Had she simply imagined him? Were her eyes playing tricks on her? No. He’d been there. She was positive. It was the same man she’d seen on the intercom’s display. He knew who she was, he knew her address, and he even knew the unit number of her family’s condo. Who was he?
Soon her building came into view. Nothing unusual so far. She had a feeling she knew what was going to happen when she got there, though, and she desperately hoped she was wrong. But considering the man knew where she lived, it seemed almost inevitable.
And there he was. The masked man from before was standing in front of her building. He’d beaten her there and was now lying in wait for her.
Rukana spun around on the spot and went right back the way she’d come. At this time of day, her father would still be at work, but what about her mother? She didn’t want to talk to her mother, but what else could she do? As Rukana sped away from the building, she pulled out her phone and dialed. Her mother picked up moments later.
“Rukana? Why are you out so late today? Is something wrong?”
“…There’s a weird guy standing outside the building,” Rukana explained. “I was too scared to go in.”
“What?!” her mother exclaimed. “Wait just a moment. I’ll go look!”
Without hanging up, Rukana’s mother took off. Rukana heard her slip on a pair of sandals and head out the door. After that came the sound of an elevator, and finally it seemed she’d reached the building’s entrance. The door’s automatic lock clicked open, and Rukana’s mother stepped out into the street.
“I don’t see anyone,” she said. “Rukana? Nobody’s here. Everything looks just fine to me.”
“…Oh. All right.” Rukana came to a stop. She was winded, her breath ragged. “Sorry. I’ll be home soon.”
“Should I come meet you?”
Rukana almost shouted, “Mind your own business!” but stopped herself. “…No. I’ll be fine,” she said instead, then hung up.
It was now quite dark, and Rukana shivered as she turned around and retraced her steps once more. In the end, she made it to her building without incident. It was almost disappointing.
Rukana’s mother was still concerned about the strange man and suggested they call the police to report him. Rukana thought she was overreacting, though. That would be blowing things way out of proportion. But trying to stop her mother only made her more upset, and in the end the situation devolved into a full-blown argument. Rukana wound up shutting herself in her room, but even with the door closed, she found she couldn’t concentrate.
When Rukana’s father got home, her mother told him about the suspicious man. To Rukana’s dismay, a family meeting was called. Going to her mother for help had been a terrible mistake.
It was midnight when her parents went to bed and things calmed down enough for Rukana to pull out her computer and get to work with Cipher. Her mother had a habit of going to the restroom every night at about half past one, but after that, the two of them always slept through the night without leaving their room.
A little past two in the morning, Rukana left Cipher and went to take a shower. She stopped by the kitchen afterward to make a pack of instant ramen, which she ate before returning to her room. Rukana noticed something moving as she stepped inside, but the lights were out, and she couldn’t tell what it was. She figured it was Cipher. But in that case, why wasn’t it coming toward her? Rukana closed the door and turned on the lights at almost the exact same moment—and the sight that greeted her was so shocking that for a moment she couldn’t process it.
An arm was reaching out from beneath Rukana’s bed. That arm—or rather, the big, bulky hand at its end—was holding Cipher by the scruff of its neck. Cipher was flailing wildly in an attempt to escape, but it couldn’t shake itself free. Rukana, too, felt a suffocating pressure, as though she was being strangled herself.
That arm had to be attached to something. And that something was beneath her bed and had been hiding there for quite some time. Eventually, it crawled out as Rukana stood watching. Its movements seemed casual, but the truth was it moved with astonishing speed. It was the masked man.
Rukana was so shocked, it didn’t even occur to her to scream. By the time she thought of raising the alarm, the masked man had already covered her mouth with one of his massive hands. He clutched the whole bottom half of her head in his right hand, still holding Cipher in his left. Now that Rukana was this close to him, she finally realized that he wasn’t an ordinary human. Maybe he wasn’t human at all, but something else—something different.
He’s going to kill me, Rukana thought. The monster that now had her in his grasp was tremendously strong. If he wanted, he could crush her head with his bare hands. I’m dead. I’m going to die.
Rukana’s vision blurred. Something was in her eyes—tears. She was crying. She was terrified. She didn’t want to die.
The monster slowly shook his head from side to side. It felt like he was sending her a message: You’re not going to die. Maybe that interpretation was just wishful thinking, but it was all she had to stake her hopes on. She had to assume he wasn’t here to kill her. And that made sense, really. After all, if he was just here to get rid of her, why had he spent hours hiding under her bed?
Don’t cry. Stop trembling.
Rukana forced herself to nod, and the monster relaxed his grip on her face. Though he withdrew his hand from her mouth, he kept Cipher firmly in his grasp. If she tried anything funny, she knew that he would probably do something terrible to it. The monster was cautious. He looked brutish and violent, but he was quick-witted.
The monster glanced toward Rukana’s bed, so she stepped over to it and sat down. She wasn’t scared anymore. She told herself over and over not to be frightened. The monster stuck one of his gigantic hands into his jacket’s pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper. It was small, roughly the size of a business card, and light red in color. The monster held it out for Rukana to see.
15:00-Central Cosmos Hotel-S
Rather than printed, the words on the card were handwritten in purple ink. It looked like the writer had used a ballpoint pen. Their penmanship wasn’t exceptional, but it left an oddly powerful impression. Then again, maybe it was more the signature, S, that had an effect on Rukana. S. S? She looked again, and it was still there. Just S.
S. Rukana only knew one S. Who else could it be?
She reflexively reached out for the scrap of paper, but the monster pulled it away. It seemed it wasn’t hers to keep. The message had included a time, S’s signature, and the name of a hotel. Rukana grabbed her cell phone off her bed and ran a search for the Central Cosmos Hotel. It came up instantly. As it turned out, it was right in the same city where she lived. What’s more, it had gone out of business some time ago. That meant it was an abandoned hotel—the kind people broke into in search of ghosts.
“…Are you saying I should go to the Central Cosmos Hotel at three PM tomorrow?” Rukana asked in a whisper.
The monster shoved the scrap of paper back into his pocket, nodded, and released Cipher, who quietly landed on the ground. Then the monster turned his back to Rukana, clearly about to leave.
“Wait!” Rukana stood up, but the monster ignored her and opened her door. “Are you Master S?”
The monster didn’t reply. He stepped out of her room without a word and shut the door behind him. Rukana chased after him, but by the time she’d left her room, the front door of her family’s condo was just closing. The inside lock was undone.
Rukana rushed barefoot out into the corridor, but no one was there. Only silence greeted her.